Access & Functional Needs: Business

If you aren't sure whether your property or business is at
risk from disasters, check with the Office of
Emergency Management to obtain information and assistance
on how you can be ready and resilient.

Often cited as a good business principle, businesses hire
employees with “permanent” access and functional needs
because of the skills and diversity they bring to the
workplace.

A factor that many businesses do not consider is the need to
make sure emergency plans also include the possibility of
employees being injured or disabled as a result of the incident.

Access

Ensure that all employees have access to copies of emergency
plans (multiple formats: e-copies, braille and large print).

Equal access to emergency alert systems (multiple systems).

Equal opportunity to comment on drills and exercises.

Inclusion

Conduct your emergency planning
process following the principle of working with your
employees, not for them. Employees with access and
functional needs best know their ability to respond to an
emergency.

Include all employees when conducting drill and exercises:
do not tell employees and visitors in wheelchairs they can “wait
out the exercise,” no one learns with that approach and it is
demeaning to the individual.

Include all employees when conducting after event discussions or
“hot wash.”

When developing emergency evacuation
plans, include the employee in the discussion or planning
process, remembering “nothing about us, without us.”

Representation

Include employees with access and functional needs as
representatives on your emergency planning team as well as your
continuity of operations team.

Include employees with access and functional needs on emergency
sub-committees, including sheltering,
transportation and communications.

If your emergency response process follows the Incident
Command System as recommended by FEMA and the National
Response Framework, be sure to include employees with access and
functional needs on your command staff.